The Dickinson press., 1887-10-01
THE WEED IN PERSIA.
AN ORIENTAL LAND, SAID TO BE
THE SMOKERS PARADISE.

AN ORIENTAL LAND, SAID TO BE
THE SMOKERS PARADISE.
The Pcrsian's Social Position Shown by
tho Number and Value of His Pipes.
The Eternal Water Pipc-The Etiquette
of Smoking.
Persia is the smokers paradise. In the first
place, tobacco is cheap; fourteen y FUNDS of it
in the cured leaf cost from three to ten Sllill-
ings. There is no mid,!leman or manufnc-
turer to mix, chop, scent, favora and adultcrate
it, The grower cures it and packs it in bags
Of skin. In these bags the merchant sells it TO
the retailer: and then the smoker, pipe in
hand, samples the various lots, and purchases
from a pennyworth to IL hagful, as sccmeth to
him good. There are various kinds of tobacco
i'll Persia: the leaf tobacco, which is smoked
in tho kalian, for hubble bubble: the Kurdish
tobacco, which is almost white, and consists
of the leaves and stalks of the plant coarScly
pulverizel. This is II very fragrant pipe
tobacco, and may be obtained mild or excess
lively strong, and it is smoked in chibouqucs
or In the Arab short clay pipe. The only
recommendations of the Arab pipe arc it's
cheapness and its portability. 1t is simple
b of clay about six inches long, with n
bore an inch in diameter; it is constructed i'll
the middle, and bent at nearly Il right angle.
1t is essentially the poor MANS pipe.
Crammed with a Kurdish tobacco. of which
it will hold half al ounce, it is passed from
hand to ham unit. it is smoked out.
In the north of P"rsia and in the capital
the paplros, or cigarette, is rapidly gaining
ground; the comnnonest SAMSON tobacco is
used as n rule, or n very similar article grown
i'll Ghilan and rather superior to it. But the
real national pipe of Persia is the kalian.
Among the merchant and tradcsman class
the kalian is ever between the lips. The
peripatetic vender Of smoke is seen in Persia
in every place where men congrcgntc for
business or pleasure. Even at executions the
criminal will ask for and receive n farewell
Whit OF the eternal water pipe before lie is
blown from n IL l have seen a man un-
dergoing the long agonies of cruciixion seek
ing solacc i'll the kalian.
THE PERSIAN AND HIS PIPES.
The social position of the Persian is shown
by the number and the value of his pipes.
The pipebearer to n great man is a highly
paid domestic, who may have in his care
from fifty to n hundred pipes, varying in
value from Is to $500. The pipes of the
king and of the royal princes are often made
entirely of gold incrusted with a profusion of
gems; the middle and upper classes generally
content themselves with kalians whose rescr-
voirs and stems are of solid silver, the bowl
only being of gold ornamented with gems or
enamels. The religious classes mostly affect
n kalian Of the simplest kind; the water rrsel.
voir being q wide mou,hed bottle of coarse
porous clay, the stem being composed Of
curiously turned wool stained n bright Grim
son, and the bowl made of n black porcelain
resembling ebony in appearance. But i'll the
privacy Of their own harcms the holy men do
not disdain to smoke the costly pipes of their
wives; for everybody smokes in Prrsia-old
men and mailens, young men and children
and the old women are the most invctcrate
smokers of all.
Among the middle classes the water rescr.
voir is often composed of glass. deliberately
cut and often decorated with the iloril col
ored and gilt characterization which Turkish
art has rendered familiar to us. These glass
reservoirs, for which there is IN enormous
market throughout Persia and central Asia,
nre madein Russia. Rose water is Frequently
used i'll place of the vulgar fluid; rose leaves,
tiny rosebuds, and the immature fruit of the
almond or plum are tossed into it, and us the
smoker at each inhalation sets the LIQUID in
violent motion a pleasant sight is thus offered
for his contemplation, much resembling the
pretty toys that may be seen Ill Some of tho
filter shops i'll London In the hot weather a
porous clay reservoir is affected bya classes,
rs it is supposed to cool the water that pl,ri-
fies the fragrant smoke; they will even ice
the water. The water is changed every time
the pipe is lighted, and is itself not without
its uses; for it is All ever handy and never
failing emetic-n useful thing in II country
where poisoning is not infrcquent.
ETIQUETTE AND PUNcTILIo.
Probably the Pelsians are the most poetical
rs we'll as the most practical people in the
world. All through the summer the stems of
their pipes are decorated with circles of tiny
moss rose buds; or, the interstices having been
filled with grass seeds or grains of corn, tho
pipe is handed to the smoker covered with
rows of sprouting verdure all inch and n half
long. This decoration of pipes is part of the
duty Of the pipe bearer or of the ladies' Of the
harem, and the pipe bearers Office is no sine
cure. He has several stocks of tobacco of
varying quality.
The etiquette III punctilio of pipe smoking
are eiluiess. WIEN u 'lsltor Is oIefeu Il pipe,
and there is not n second one, he declines it at
once; his host must smoke first. This, if the
entertainer be much superior i'll position, he
will actually do, but otherwise he declines,
and the guest, having first offered the pipe to
the other visitors, who decline it us n matter
Of course, proceeds to smoke, and then it is
handed round to everybody in order of rank.
No business in the east can be done with
out the smoking Of many water pipes; it
forms q large PORTION of the enjoyment of the
Oriental bath, it fills up the pauscs of CONVEX
sation, and, when u man is ut u loss for an
answer, 1t gives him time to think. The very
sound of the bubbling water in a hot country
is soothing to the ear. That it is not smokedi in
Europe is probably due to the fact that he
who would smoke the Persian water pipe
would need to keep q Persian seryant to fill